i've heard the exact opposite. i don't personally know tho. i've never used 8 or 8.1.

I think, this is an urban legend.

I prefer Windows 7

I don't know about game performance (I use my Win8 computer for work) but overall performance has really improved and the interface is a lot better in my opinion.

It's not worth paying for.

If given the choice at the same price, 8.1 is the way to go now.

If you have win 7, then no. If you have a new build, then why not?

I never had Windows 7 but I got Windows 8.1 for about half a year and I didn't have any problems with games

I have +5 FPS on my laptop on win 8.1, compared to win 7 (tested with NFS most wanted + fraps), and it seems to work a bit smoother overall, so yes, I guess it's true.

Haven't noticed any difference whatsoever

Its fine, only thing not working for me is Empire Earth so far.

just stay with win7, skip 8 and go for windows9

I tried Windows 8 and 8.1 and to be honest I found it faster and less resource-consuming than 7. I didn't encounter many problems with it, mostly being minor problems. I did however had serious issues with metro apps that required access to hardware stuff. Metro Skype (or wut ever is it called) doesn't recognize the camera driver, for example.
I didn't play much on it (basically I used it for dev stuff) but some games simply won't start or will crash while most of them run just fine and even better than they do on Win7.
However, I ran into some issues updating DirectX 9c on Windows 8 and before that, it took me some time to get it installed. On 8.1 didn't have this issue.
My advice would be to go to 8.1 directly if you can and if you really want to upgrade. If it's not that important, you can wait for Update 2 for 8.1, just to make sure.

in my opinion 8.1 is better than 8 , but i still prefer windows 7 has less bugs and more drivers LOL

inb4 comments trying to convince you how bad win8 is

Short answer: YES, do a clean 8.1 - you'll love it.

If you have Win 7 there's no reason to update. Wait for Windows 9. According to rumours it's out next year.

Windows 8.1 is great. windows 8 is poo. 8.1 is way better in terms of performance and out of all of my games, i have no problems running them all. There is always comparability mode.

USE LINUX

My new desktop is running 8.1 and it works great. It has good performance and speeds on all of my games. The only thing is that you will have a bunch of random new things that they added to the interface to get used to :P.

if you already have 7 dont upgrade. if you need windows and are looking to buy it, get win8 (then upgrade to 8.1, its free). the only reason people dont like it is because of metro but you never have to use it. windows explorer is much better and uses less resources than 7. people just like to jump on the hate train.

I'd say if you have a custom rig that you like, yes. If you buy pre made systems then no. If you have a custom rig, that you aren't going to ditch and upgrade in the next year or two, You'll love what Win 8.1 does to your system. Windows 8 was rubbish but when I just upgraded my mom to 8.1 she really saw how fast it was.

Most newer games do. To say games optimized for Win 7 run better on 8.1 is kinda wrong. I do find Win 8.1 doesn't roll back as well as 7 (run compatibility mode)

A few things to note:
The new Task Manager, once you figure it out is wonderful.
Network Issues happen often if not using a newer router Right click troubleshoot lots
People are going to Hate on Win 9
You do have to re-learn a few things if you do, but when you do you'll see how much faster 8.1 runs
Only do it if you have a cheap legit copy. I've had to help fix people who have tried to use bad, pirated 8.1. The pirated does seem to destroy itself.

Well I have 8.1 and its pretty good..... Once you make it feel and look like a windows 7 update.